Lack of self-confidence is one of the biggest silent killers of freelance writing careers. As an independent professional, you have to believe in what you’re doing and what you’re going after.

But when things go wrong, how can you take yourself from self-doubt to self-confidence? How can you manufacture that experience? How can you turn things around quickly?

Even with his success, Ed still struggles with self-doubt at times. And in this podcast, he shares his own tips and ideas for getting out of a funk and developing stronger self-confidence.

The notes that follow are a very basic, unedited summary of this podcast. There's a lot more detail in the audio version. You can listen to the show using the audio player below. Or you can subscribe to this podcast series in iTunes.

Most freelance writers I talk to never want to go back to a regular job.

But many of them do miss the steady paycheck. (Usually that's the only thing they miss!) Which begs the question: How can you add more predictability to your freelance income?

I'll be showing you several ways to do that over the next couple of months. Because, frankly, there's no single way to ensure predictability. It requires smart strategy and hard work.

But let's get started on that discussion by addressing one potential solution to the income variability dilemma: adding email newsletters to your list of services.

My colleague Michael Katz has made a great living over the last 13 years writing, producing and managing email newsletters for clients. He's also taught many freelance writers how to do the same. And in this lively interview he details the opportunity — including what it entails, what you can charge, how to lock yourself in with great clients who can pay you $700 to $2,000 every month.

The notes that follow are a very basic, unedited summary of our interview. You can listen to the show using the audio player below. And you can also subscribe to this podcast series in iTunes.

If you've followed me for a while, you already know that I'm NOT a fan of quoting hourly rates.

At least not when you're a freelance writer.

There are many disadvantages to the hourly rate model, and I still believe that in most cases it's much better to quote flat project fees.

However, there ARE some situations where it makes more sense to quote project work by the hour. And if you do it right, you can still earn a great living and keep your client happy.

I recently corresponded with web content writer and SEO specialist Katherine Andes. Katherine quotes most of her work by the hour. And one of the many things I admire about her is how successful she's been with this model.

In this episode, Katherine explains why she's chosen the hourly rate model. How she makes it work for both her and the client. And how she handles pricing objections and pushback.

Many freelance writers get to a point where they want to scale their business in some way. Or they want to diversify their income stream by launching a new side venture or project.

Mike Stelzner is a classic example. From 1996 until just a few years ago he was a freelance writer. Today he is the founder and CEO of Social Media Examiner (SME), an online magazine for business owners and marketers who are trying to figure out social media.

In less than 4 years, SME has attracted 222,000 email subscribers and 800,000 website hits per month. And Mike's podcast, The Social Media Marketing Podcast, has 21,000 listeners! As if that weren't enough, Mike recently launched a new website: MyKidsAdventures.com -- a site for parents looking for fun things to do with their kids. We’ll come back to this one later.